The Players Championship Live Stream: Preview, Leaderboard, and Where to Watch for This Weekend's PGA Tournament

The Players Championship gets underway Thursday from TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The tournament showcases some major talent and one of the most unique layouts on the PGA Tour.

The par-5 16th, par-3 17th (the famous island green) and the par-4 18th are three of the best risk-reward holes in all of golf and often make for a lot of excitement on Sunday afternoon.

Length isn't as important here as accuracy. There are plentiful water hazards and tight landing areas. Four of the last eight winners led the field in greens in regulation for the week and three of the last seven champions led in driving accuracy.

All of the big names from golf are scheduled to play in the tournament except reigning Master's Champion Bubba Watson who has taken the week off to spend time with his wife and their son who was born just before the Masters.

The $9.5 million purse offered for the tournament certainly draws in many of the big names. The $1.7 million for the winner is one of the single biggest awards on the tour. That money and the big fish it draws, has given the Players the title of fifth major, though it is unofficial.

K.J. Choi is the defending champion but it doesn't look like he will repeat as he has struggled on tour since the win, however there are some intriguing candidates. Extremely accurate players like Hunter Mahan or Lee Westwood have the best chance at a course like this, so pay attention to the guys who know how to place it.

Leaderboard: A live leaderboard for the Players Championship is up on PGA.com here.

Where to Watch: The tournament will be broadcast from 1-7 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday on the Golf Channel. NBC will cover the action on Saturday and Sunday from 2-7 p.m. Coverage can also be found on a live stream at FirstRowSports.